(open) you're looking at me like you don't know who i am

[entreats]

Who: Ange, Ruby, Break, and anyone who knows any of them.
What: Corruption turned Ange into a true Umineko witch who decided the best way to keep the people she loves safe from this town is to drag them into a pocket dimension.
When: For a while in March.
Where: Ange and Ruby's house-turned-small-pocket-dimension.

Content Warnings: Potential violence if anyone acts particularly antagonistic. Potential talk of violence or gore. Other warnings will be added when things pop up.



Perhaps you have seen Ruby's odd network post and decided to check things out. Or maybe you're just wandering around Trench and notice that Ange and Ruby's house suddenly looks.. different.

The house has been completely overgrown by way oversized roses, big thorns growing out of all the stems, completely obscuring the structure that's supposed to be underneath it. If you get close enough to the cluster of roses, you may feel your connection to any of the three people inside suddenly pull you in. (Please note: only people who know either Ange, Ruby or Break will be able to enter the pocket dimension because of this!)

If you give in to the sensation, everything around you might go black, and when the light returns, you seem to find yourself in.. a hedge maze. A rather odd one, though. As you stumble through it, you may suddenly find yourself in random rooms, and then back out of them into the hedge maze once more. The Moss King's wild plants seem to have even invaded corners of this place, so you might want to watch out you avoid having those snap at you. Retracing your steps through the labyrinth feels impossible, like the way is changing up behind you with every step. Some rooms make perfect sense - like a neat and elaborate kitchen, or a library - and others seem to consist of nonsense with stairs leading upside down or to nowhere, or gravity not working in a specific room at all.

Flying throughout the entire maze are golden butterflies. They seem to fly with direction, and if you follow them, you might find them leading you to one of the people you were looking for..

Comments

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael snorts inelegantly.]

Geez, thanks.

[entreats]

[ Ange just stares at him.

She'd slowly blink, but.. she actually hasn't been blinking even once this entire time. Maybe it's the way her eyes turned all weird that prevents it, or it's something else.

The usual deadpan remark she'd throw at him in return is missing too. ]

Isn't it true? I am sure this looks nothing like the places you made.

[ Yes, Ange, because this place is literally all over the place with the random appearing and disappearing rooms inside of a hedge maze.. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Not that. Though - I mean, it's not like we never had hedge mazes, we actually did that a few different times...

[Not the point! He waves a hand.]

Trench. You know I live there? Literally everyone else still lives there.

[entreats]

You could come live here.

[ She suggests it so easily. There's nothing hasty about her words necessarily, since Ange speaks so calmly even at this point, but her response time sure indicates she didn't even have to think about that for a moment. ]

We are friends. [ It's something she seems to remember, even in this form. Something she still seems to attach value to. ] Of course you're welcome here. And it is bound to be much safer than Trench is. I'm keeping the Pthumerians out.

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael purses his lips. It shouldn't be, but the idea actually is a little tempting. His house has been so quiet lately, ever since his last roommate moved out. Just him and his dog now.]

Do you really think you can keep them out forever?

[entreats]

[ Ange nods.

Is this the sort of thing she'd usually be so confident about? Of course not. She knows very well how powerful the Pthumerians are, after all. But she's beyond the limits of her usual power, and.. well, even aside from that, there's enough influencing her mind right now that makes it feel like she really can do it.

Especially when there'd be even more friends here. More on the line. ]

When all of you are here, I'll have to. I can't let anything happen to you, of course.

[ Despite the fact that there's been something kind of inhuman about Ange this entire time, when she smiles at Michael right now? There is something genuinely sweet in it. Like she means it.

No corruption can change the part of Ange that cares so much for the people she's found who care for her, after all. ]

I'm going to expand this place too, as soon as I can. So more people can be safe here. That's why we won't need Trench anymore.

[eudaimonikos]

[Ah. Yeah. There it is. As lonely as Michael has often felt of late, that just won't do. He sighs.]

Ange, you can't just suck people into your Alice in Wonderland theme park without asking them.

[entreats]

[ The girl stares for a moment - wordlessly, still not blinking. ]

What do you mean? [ She'll let the insult towards her world slide for now since it's Michael, but.. ] I'm asking you right now, aren't I?

[eudaimonikos]

[He waves a hand; he meant the expansion. And probably the folks here now, but mostly the expansion.]

What about everyone else?

[entreats]

I'll ask them when the time comes.

[ .. the people she likes, anyway.

There are definitely some people Ange just isn't planning on letting in here at all, though she's leaving that out right now. Not on purpose, but mostly because she feels like there's something more important to address. Like-- ]

This place will not replace Trench in that sense. It doesn't occupy the same space. This is its own layer of reality. People choose to come in here.

[ As far as she's aware, anyway. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Is that what happened with Ruby and everyone? 'Cause, no offense, but everyone in here seems kinda...weird.

[entreats]

[ Ange doesn't seem to take offense.

.. though she does seem a little surprised by what he's saying. She raises a single eyebrow, and though it's hard to tell her expression with those empty glowing eyes, she almost seems a little confused or curious, like she has no idea what he's talking about when he talks about people seeming weird. ]

I haven't noticed anything.

[ See? ]

But Ruby-- She was dying. [ Ange's voice is still relatively calm as she says it, but there's something faintly more tight about her voice, like a thinly concealed tension. ] I had to put some of my magic into her to save her. If I hadn't made her my furniture, she would have died. The only thing that changed because of it is that we are more connected now.

[eudaimonikos]

She was? What happened?

[That's obviously what kicked this all off, now that he knows, but hey wait a second - ]

Sorry, you made her furniture?

[entreats]

[ Thankfully it's not the first time that Ange has had to clarify this. Maybe it's why it sounds so effortless for her to just simply reply with: ]

In other places they might call that sort of thing a "familiar", perhaps.

[ That seems like the closest equivalent that other people might grasp.. ]

This place was depleting her aura. [ She's not sure if that's a concept Michael knows about, but then again, it's more of a Ruby's world sort of thing than an Ange's world sort of thing. Still, she adds: ] That's practically her soul. The only way to keep her alive was to replace the strength she was losing with my own magic.

[ Which is what she did. ]

[eudaimonikos]

...kinda sounds like she still doesn't have her actual soul, though.

[Like, replacing it with Ange Control doesn't sound a whole lot better?]

[entreats]

Of course she does. You've seen her, right?

[ Not that Ange knows Ruby has been broadcasting this place to the entire network.. She just figures that anyone who manages to reach her in this place surely has seen Ruby along the way, since that girl seems to be all over the place here. ]

How would she be walking around if she had no soul?

[eudaimonikos]

If her soul got replaced with a bunch of furniture stuff, probably exactly like that.

[entreats]

There's nothing replaced. She's just being strengthened by my magic. [ Or so Ange herself seems to believe, anyway. It's not like this is the sort of thing she does more often - especially when the furniture she's had in the past back home was just passed down to her from someone else.

So she actually has no idea how it works when you create it from scratch.

Still, she seems convinced. Perhaps even a tad defensive, but it's mostly since Ruby is involved, and Ruby is too important to be thinking about these sorts of things. ]

As far as I have seen her going around here, she seems fine. She acts just like she usually does towards me.

[eudaimonikos]

You guys had any disagreements?

[Like, anything at all of any size?]

[entreats]

[ Ange shakes her head. ]

Of course not. [ She says it like it's natural. ] I mean, what would we even have to disagree about here?

[eudaimonikos]

I don't know, but nobody agrees all the time. You should make sure you still don't. It's creepy, if she can't do that much.

[entreats]

But it's not that she can't disagree with me.

[ Or so Ange thinks, anyway. Reality might not work exactly that way - even though it's also not like she forced Ruby into compliance.

It's just a huge weird mess, and Ange doesn't know half of it in her corrupted state. ]

It's just that there has been no need for it so far. You could ask her about that yourself, if you haven't yet. I'm sure she is around here somewhere. [ Ange gestures with her hand into the distance. You know, probably off fighting plants somewhere around here.. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Do you actually know that, though?

[If they haven't, then where's the proof?]

Honestly? I'm not really sure I know her well enough to tell what's up. Other than...you know, the weird vibes. Real cult thing going on in here.

[entreats]

.. Cult thing?

[ Okay, now that seems to offend the girl. Not enough to immediately slip into full on rage, at least, but Ange certainly doesn't look pleased either as she repeats those words.

Because, you know, no one in a cult ever gets mad about being called a cult. Clearly. Obviously. ]

I can't believe you'd compare this to Trench and call this the cult thing. There are no blood sacrifices happening here. [ Unlike in!! Some places!!

Looking at you, Tower. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Not all cults do those. Usually it's more of a weird sex thing. Not - that I'm saying that either, that's beside the point.

[Let's not go there!]

Ange, I'm saying this as your friend. This glowing golden eyes magic...goddess thing is a very creepy vibe, and I don't think this is going to end well. People really don't actually want to be perfectly happy in a perfect paradise all the time, it's against human nature.